Who are these Critters you speak of?

Thursday, December 13, 2012

Disclaimer: This picture is all in jest as the parents worked really hard.

The Critters had their Thanksgiving Feast/Party at school the Monday before, you guessed it, Thanksgiving. The kids did a little singing and had their 'feast' afterwards. I was able to shoot over there for a quick visit, which was pretty entertaining.

Tuesday, December 11, 2012

We headed down to Orlando over Veteran's Day weekend to take the Critters to Disney, since we will probably not be able to go over the Christmas break. The new Fantasyland was having a partial, soft opening. It was having an even wider opening if you were a season pass holder which we are not, you can't really complain, although I tried, when you don't pay to get into the park. Parts of the new Fantasyland were open to everyone and the Critters got to ride the new duel Dumbo ride. I will say it has a pretty neat new waiting area for the ride. They give you a pager, like the ones you get at restaurants and then they send you into a huge play area. When your pager goes off you head back to the "front desk" and they put you into a very short queue.

After Fantasyland we headed over to the carousel and 'It's a Small World.' After those two it was about lunch time so we headed to the Liberty Tree restaurant, which was quite good. After that is was the steamboat, the Jungle Cruise, Aladdin's Magic Carpet ride, and the railroad. We watched a little bit of the parade and then headed over to Kate's restaurant to have dinner. I think we got home about 9 that night, the best part was there were no meltdowns!

Tuesday, December 4, 2012

By now you have already seen the Critters Halloween costumes from the way earlier post about Trunk or Treat, but to bring everyone else up to speed the Critters were their lovies this year, a pig, a giraffe, and a horse.

The Critters had their Halloween Parade and Party at their school earlier in the day. This is the first program at their school that I couldn't attend. Luckily, Rian was there with the trusty camera snapping away.

We headed over to Aunt Donna's house first to kick off Candyfest 2012. Aunt Donna did not disappoint, she loaded their bags down with goodies. After Aunt Donna's we headed over to Summerbrooke to Trick or Treat with Katie, Jason, Colin, Campbell, and friends. It was a great neighborhood to let the kids loose in. Later in the night we loaded up in trucks and headed over to a street that was fully decked out and doling out candy by the handful.

The Critters finally succumbed to sleep, but not before having a few pieces of sugary goodness.

Its been a while hasn't it? Well, now that the previously unmentioned, but hinted at, event is behind us I will discuss it now. We had an accident in the family in mid-September. Haddie and I were going down a slide together and her leg got caught up and well it snapped. One of the most sickening sounds, and it is extremely difficult to get that out of your head. We reached the bottom of the slide and I immediately told Rian that Haddie broke her leg, I am all too familiar with the sound of breaking bones. To Haddie's credit she cried for all of 1 minute, that's it. We took her to the TMH emergency clinic. The folks there refused to believe that she had a broken leg by her demeanor. I even bought into this optimism, even though I knew better. The optimism was short lived when we saw the X-Ray. She had a spiral/radial fracture of the Tibia.

I took Haddie to the bone doctors the next day to get her cast. As I was signing in I had to confirm that they had pink casting, otherwise we would have to find another doctor as anything but pink would be unacceptable. I think there would be more tears shed over the color of the cast than actually breaking her leg. Haddie was placed in a long leg cast, pink of course, for three weeks. We even got her a little people wheelchair, which I had no idea they actually made. After the three weeks she was able to get a short leg/walking cast, pink and purple swirls this time.

To say she was a trooper through all of this would be an understatement. She handled the whole ordeal like a Champ.

So the take-away lesson for today is DON'T RIDE DOWN SLIDES, ESPECIALLY TUBE SLIDES, WITH YOUR KIDS ON YOUR LAP. (Even the NY Times had an article on this [click here]. Would have been great to see this before September!)

Monday, December 3, 2012

Well we have made it a little tradition in our family to head down to Apalachicola the first weekend in November for the Seafood Festival. It is a typical local (ruralish) country parade and festival. I can say that it brings out a bevy of interesting folks. Grandma B headed up on Friday and after a lengthy delay in Lake City, due to an accident (not her), she finally made it up.

We headed out early Saturday morning to make sure that we made the parade. Unfortunately this year there were no small children strapped to the hoods of cars. You are probably thinking what the heck are you talking about. Well, in the parade they have all types of little princesses and for some reason they would put the kids on the hoods of the cars and drive slowly down the parade route. Don't worry though the kids were held in place on the hood by bungee cords. If you have a really puzzled look on your face right now you can imagine my reaction to seeing it live. I would think that the local authorities and child safety experts had a chat with the folks down there.

After the parade we headed over to Battery Park to get us some shrimp for lunch. As usual the local high school stand did not disappoint. After getting our fill and watching the oyster eating contest, we headed to downtown Appalach. We were able to get the rest of the kids pent up energy out running around the waterfront.

After a long day we packed up the troops and headed home. Here are a few picks from the festival:

The start of the parade.

CarCar does not like loud noises.

Steve Southerland, our State Congressman, giving Rian some love.

The Sisters.

Brother loved the horses in the parade.

The Critters got to ride real horses at the festival, twice!

Brother was loving it.

Haddie.

CarCar taking a spin.

Brother on the huge horse.

Brother.

Your typical family shot on an over sized Adirondack chair.

Brothers second go around on the horses.

Haddie again.

We have taken a picture on this bench each year we have gone to the festival, this was this years attempt.